CHENNAI: Makkalai Thedi Mayor initiative, which was kick-started by Mayor R Priya on May 3 this year, has been receiving a good response from the people, according to the corporation. On Monday, Mayor Priya chaired a meeting to review the progress of the scheme.
Corporation data shows that out of the 1,640 petitions received in the five editions of the initiative, 1,191 (over 90%) of the complaints have been resolved. But, the petitioners are contesting the claims made by the corporation. Out of the 516 petitions received during the fifth edition of the scheme in Ambattur on October 6, more than 300 petitions remain to be solved, according to corporation data. Once a person submits a petition, he/she is given an acknowledgement number, which can be used to track compliant progress online. However, people are not able to check the progress in the tracking portal.
D T Babu, a resident of Besant Nagar, alleged that petitions are marked as completed without any action taken on the ground. “I had highlighted three issues in my petition. There was no follow-up on the petitions, but the corporation officials claim more than 90% of the complaints have been addressed.” For issues pertaining to other departments, the petitions are transferred to the concerned officials and marked as completed in the tracking portal.
“Even issues related to the corporation are unresolved in some areas. The corporation should provide a breakup of the petitions received and provide zone and issue specific progress report,” said Niranjan Patnaik, a resident of Tiruvottriyur. The mayor had instructed corporation officials to liaise with the other service departments to ensure proper resolutions of the complaints. A senior corporation official told TNIE, “Issues coming under corporation are taken up on a priority basis. The rest of the complaints are sent to the concerned departments and officials are instructed to thoroughly follow up.”